Over the previous two years, Innosight Institute has published a series of case studies about the fast-growing field of online learning in K-12 education. One aim of this effort was to identify policies that had either positive or negative ramifications for students. This policy brief, sponsored by the Joyce Foundation, summarizes some of that…

This essay describes a blended (hybrid) course collaboration used to facilitate policy dialogues between graduate students at two institutions (one in Canada and the other in the US) as a way to teach about policy. The course content and design is informed by three trends in research and practice: increased policy borrowing across boundaries and…

The development of world-class universities is high on the policy agenda of governments across the globe. China's 985 Project is among the earliest national initiatives to concentrate research funding to build world-class universities. Ten years after it was initiated, the project has enabled selected institutions to improve their research and…

In 1997, the Government of Sri Lanka launched a comprehensive set of education reforms designed to promote equitable access to basic education and improvements in learning outcomes. The package of reforms arose as a political response to widespread youth unrest in the late 1980s and attracted considerable "political will", a vague but…

Policy-making in Canadian post-secondary education is rarely the subject of intensive, systematic study. This paper seeks to identify the distinctive ways in which Canadian post-secondary education policy decisions were constructed and implemented, and to posit an analytical framework for interpreting policy-making process in post-secondary…

The rapid quantitative growth of higher education in Ethiopia has triggered considerable concern for quality. The present paper analyses why expanding the higher education subsector took precedence over quality against the backdrop of the current Ethiopian political discourse. This article argues that the growing public demand due to globalization…

The evolution in Europe towards more competence-based curricula in the last ten years or so is the result of several exogenous factors and a determined European policy. The Reference Framework of Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, a Recommendation approved by the European Parliament and the Council in 2006, and the work carried out within the…

This article examines the opportunities and limitations presented by organizing an undergraduate field research methods class as a policy think tank working for a government client. Organized as such, the course had both the learning objectives of a traditional undergraduate methods class and the corporate objectives of a policy think tank (i.e.,…

This article is a case study of how the provost and senior executive leadership of one large university system capitalized on a long-standing advisory group as a tool to support communication and collaboration across a broad constituency. These advisory efforts help guide both future directions and investment. It is the story of how this group has…

Research on and with ethnic minority students is characterised by a growing international literature that privileges "liberal multiculturalism" as a lens through which to understand their experiences, yet ethnic diversity is constructed and responded to in many societies that are not underpinned by liberal democratic values. In this…

Policies and programmes pursuing the universalisation of elementary education (UEE) in developing nations have been influenced by a set of complex forces in international, state, and local arenas. This paper explores how a large-scale standardised assessment programme shaped by international and market-oriented discourses has been differently…

Educationese, the language often spoken, written and understood only by educators, is in grave danger. Anti-educationese radicals recently proposed national legislation outlawing the passive voice in all education communications, even school district newsletters. These revolutionaries purport that the use of shorter sentences, simple vocabulary…

The South African Schools Act of 1996 provides that school governing bodies (SGBs) should adopt and assist in the enforcement of a learner code of conduct to maintain discipline effectively. This study focuses on the perceptions and experiences of SGBs in managing discipline in rural secondary schools through the design and enforcement of learner…

How do open and distance learning institutions review and renew themselves to ensure their continued fitness for purpose? Here we report on the work of a change team in the UK Open University, a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning created to examine, innovate and improve student support. The existence of the Centre for five years from…

Horizontal governance is an umbrella term that covers a range of approaches to policy development, service delivery issues, and management practices. A horizontal initiative may take place across levels of government, across boundaries between units of a single department or agency or among multiple departments or agencies, or across public,…